Bennett Ridge neighbours pooled their lots into a grazing co-op to hire sheep and goats

The New Yorker reported in September 2026 on a grazing cooperative in Bennett Ridge, a Sonoma County subdivision hit by the 2017 Nuns Fire, which destroyed 1,355 buildings. Landscape architect Jane Marx found grazing firms wanted tens of acres at a time, so her 2.5 acres were not worth their while. Neighbour Bill Hill then heard consultant Sarah Keiser of Wild Oat Hollow describe community grazing co-ops, and with Marx and another neighbour organised one, with Keiser as matchmaker.

In 2024 the group hired a grazier for nineteen properties; in 2025 twenty-two took part, many twice. Paigelynn Trotter of Coastal Land & Livestock trucked in 340 cashmere goats, and later 600 rented sheep, shifting them between lots with portable electric-net fencing. Owners paid $1,600 per acre, roughly what a weed-removal firm charges.

Ben Nicholls of Fire Safe Sonoma, a former Cal Fire division chief, modelled a fire before and after. Before grazing, flames at least 20 feet tall would have spread fast; after, they would be about five feet and manageable. Keiser says she has helped create around thirty such co-ops, many with LandSmart Grazing Program grants.

A grazier's travel and setup costs make single small lots uneconomic.

Pooled contiguous lots let one crew work through a neighbourhood in a single visit.

Animals can work steep rocky ground where trimmers are hard to use.

Prescribed burns near homes worry residents, so livestock are the lower-risk option.

Aggregating small buyers into a single contract can make a service viable that no single customer could justify.

Trotter called the logistics 'a little bit of a nightmare': 23 days of summer grazing meant erecting and dismantling 12,000 yards of fencing. The co-op's organising work made her job easier, though. Nicholls' modelling found the grazed landscape far safer, but prescribed burns he pushed for nearby remain only partly carried out.